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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
URGING THE STATE OF ILLINOIS TO ENACT OPIOID PRESCRIPTION LIMITS
WHEREAS, the opioid epidemic in our country has risen to extreme levels, causing the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans, and billions of dollars in economic costs; and
WHEREAS, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in 2016 116 people died every day from opioid-related drug overdoses; and
WHEREAS, 42,249 people died from overdosing on opioids in that year alone; and
WHEREAS, of those deaths, 17,087 were the result of overdosing on commonly prescribed opioids; and
WHEREAS, the cost of these drugs totaled $504 billion in 2016; and
WHEREAS, most recently, the state of Florida passed a bill to combat this crisis by instituting prescription limits on opioids and increasing funding for treatment; and
WHEREAS, Florida will be the 25th state since 2016 that has passed legislation that imposes some limits or guidelines on opioid prescriptions, and only the 3rd to create statutory limits of three or four days for Schedule II painkillers like OxyContin and Fentanyl; and
WHEREAS, Illinois is not one of the states with any of these imposed limits, and as a result the opioid epidemic remains relatively unchecked; and
WHEREAS, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) now supports policies limiting the supply of opioids for acute pain treatment; and
WHEREAS, PhRMA has concluded that too often, individuals receive a 30-day supply of opioid medicines for minor treatments or short-term pain, and that overprescribing and dispensing can lead to patients taking opioids longer than necessary or to excess pills falling into the wrong hands; and
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the members of this board, as public servants to the residents of Cook County, urge the Illinois General assembly to pass comprehensive legislation to limit prescriptions to these opioids to five days in order to combat the crisis currently affecting our communities and state as a whole.
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